Category Archives: Swatches

I’ve been getting questions about when the new trio will be available, and since the answer (“soon but no official launch date yet”) did not seem to satisfy everyone who asked 😉 I decided to have an informal launch today via the blog.

These polishes will be made available to the webstores that stock Contrary, and there will be proper swatches done by bloggers, so if you’d like to wait for that, there is no rush. This soft launch is just for those who want them and want them now! 😀

The details:

Please email ContraryPolish@gmail.com with orders.

Full-size bottles are $10 and mini bottles are $5 (plus shipping).

Invoices will be sent through Paypal.

Orders received today will ship by this Friday.

Now onto the Wintry Weather trio!

First up is Snowy Night, a dark navy blue with white shimmer/flakes. Only white micas and flakes went into this one, but due to the contrast with the navy background, you get a bit of an aqua sparkle as well. I apologize, but I don’t have swatches of this one just yet.

Next is Winter Sun, an ivory with gold shimmer/flakes. I do have swatches of this one, but keep in mind these pictures were taken in artificial light, so they lean a bit yellow; the base is whiter than it looks in the swatch pictures.

And finally, we have Frozen Sky, a blue-leaning grey with silver shimmer/flakes. Specifically, in addition to the metallic silver shimmer, the base is loaded with actual sterling silver flakes and microflakes. I’ve been loving wearing all three of these polishes, but this one might be my favorite. Protip: it looks amazing matte too. 😉

Please email ContraryPolish@gmail.com with any questions, and thanks so much for visiting the blog!

This idea for this collection came from my friend Jenny from Lavish Layerings, thanks to her being inspired by a citrus-fumed cleaning spree last spring. 😀 I absolutely loved her idea, so here we are! She will be posting her swatches of the collection soon, so stay tuned to her blog for more pictures.

The collection is called Polish With A-Peel and it is has a citrus theme. The polishes are bright-colored jellies with glass-flecky shimmer. They are a bit brighter than I usually do, but they’re perfect for the last days of summer! I’ve worn them several times in “skittles” manicures (see pictures below). I haven’t done any nail art with them yet, but I think they would lend themselves perfectly to it since they complement each other so well.

This shade was inspired by the Court of the Penguins fountain on the Country Club Plaza.

Besides its amazing shopping and restaurants, the Plaza is also known for its many fountains, statues, and mosaics. This fountain in particular stands out to me; I really love the juxtaposition of the dirty grey of the concrete with the bright colors of the mosaic.

The Boulevard (muted navy jelly with orange shimmer/microglitter)

This shade was inspired by the wall painting at La Bodega on Southwest Boulevard.

Southwest Boulevard is known for its many wonderful Mexican restaurants, but my favorite place on the Boulevard is a Spanish restaurant. La Bodega is a tapas place with fantastic ambiance, tapas and sangria. It’s a longtime favorite of mine for happy hours with friends (who could turn down half-priced tapas and sangria??). 🙂

Westport (dusty olive green with varied gold shimmer)

This shade was inspired by the sign painted on the outside of Kelly’s in Westport.

Westport is an entertainment district with plenty of restaurants, bars, and shopping. I suppose it’s a little like a grittier version of the Plaza. And while it’s older than the Plaza (around 150 years compared to the Plaza’s almost-100, if I recall correctly), it tends to attract a younger crowd.

Kelly’s is an Irish bar at the corner of Westport Rd and Pennsylvania Ave. One thing that makes it stand out is the small pizza place located in the rear. A slice really hits the spot after a long night out!

River Market (dark purple jelly with raspberry shimmer/microglitter)

This shade was inspired by blackberries and raspberries at the City Market farmers’ market in the River Market.

The River Market is another historic neighborhood in Kansas City, and the anchor attraction is the City Market farmers’ market which is open year-round on Saturdays and Sundays. The farmers’ market is certainly an easy place to draw inspiration from! Between the fruits/vegetables and the flowers, it is a riot of color. There were plenty of options to choose from, but I ended up most inspired by the color combination of the blackberries and raspberries.

18th & Vine (deep periwinkle with pink shimmer)

This shade was inspired by the color of the walls at The Blue Room in the 18th & Vine district.

The Blue Room is a jazz club in the historic 18th & Vine jazz district. I was there earlier this summer and as soon as I saw the walls I knew I wanted to create a polish with a similar color combination. The walls are a blue-purple and the trim is a red-purple, and the overall effect is striking. My red-purple shimmer leans more pink than I intended, but I think I captured the general idea. 🙂

West Bottoms (fluorescent yellowish green with gold to green shimmer; glow in the dark and UV-reactive)

This polish is pretty different from what I usually do, but I wanted to have one polish in this collection be a “Halloween” polish… and this is the perfect polish for that since this shade is inspired by The Beast Haunted House in the West Bottoms area. 🙂

The West Bottoms is known for its haunted houses that open for business every fall. I’ve been going since I was a teenager and honestly, they creep me out almost as much now as they did then! They’re the perfect combination of creepy and cheesy. 🙂

This polish is both glow-in-the-dark and blacklight/UV reactive. Naturally the glow is at its strongest when it’s worn alone, but it’s still pretty darn strong when layered! When layered one coat over black, the effect under blacklight is very strong (though you have to be careful to make the layer very even during application if you’re only going to do one layer; otherwise the blacklight effect can look patchy), and the glow-in-the-dark effect was strong enough to creep my husband out the first night I wore it to bed. 😉 As far as longevity goes, I charged my one-coat-over-black mani in the evening before bed (around 15 seconds with a flashlight) and I could still see a glow when I woke up the next morning.

I have daylight pictures to share of this polish so you can see a bit of its layering potential. (I’ll leave the glow-in-the-dark/blacklight pictures to the bloggers, because my attempts to capture it in the dark were horrendous!) The first two swatch pictures show one coat West Bottoms over black, and the second two swatch pictures show two coats over black.

This collection will be available on Llarowe starting tomorrow at 1:00 pm CST, and mini bottles will be available on my blog starting this Friday. Please see sidebar for details on how to place an order, and please let me know if you have any questions or comments.

This shade was inspired by the Court of the Penguins fountain on the Country Club Plaza.

Besides its amazing shopping and restaurants, the Plaza is also known for its many fountains, statues, and mosaics. This fountain in particular stands out to me; I really love the juxtaposition of the dirty grey of the concrete with the bright colors of the mosaic.

The Boulevard (muted navy jelly with orange shimmer/microglitter)

This shade was inspired by the wall painting at La Bodega on Southwest Boulevard.

Southwest Boulevard is known for its many wonderful Mexican restaurants, but my favorite place on the Boulevard is a Spanish restaurant. La Bodega is a tapas place with fantastic ambiance, tapas and sangria. It’s a longtime favorite of mine for happy hours with friends (who could turn down half-priced tapas and sangria??). 🙂

Westport (dusty olive green with varied gold shimmer)

This shade was inspired by the sign painted on the outside of Kelly’s in Westport.

Westport is an entertainment district with plenty of restaurants, bars, and shopping. I suppose it’s a little like a grittier version of the Plaza. And while it’s older than the Plaza (around 150 years compared to the Plaza’s almost-100, if I recall correctly), it tends to attract a younger crowd.

Kelly’s is an Irish bar at the corner of Westport Rd and Pennsylvania Ave. One thing that makes it stand out is the small pizza place located in the rear. A slice really hits the spot after a long night out!

River Market (dark purple jelly with raspberry shimmer/microglitter)

This shade was inspired by blackberries and raspberries at the City Market farmers’ market in the River Market.

The River Market is another historic neighborhood in Kansas City, and the anchor attraction is the City Market farmers’ market which is open year-round on Saturdays and Sundays. The farmers’ market is certainly an easy place to draw inspiration from! Between the fruits/vegetables and the flowers, it is a riot of color. There were plenty of options to choose from, but I ended up most inspired by the color combination of the blackberries and raspberries.

18th & Vine (deep periwinkle with pink shimmer)

This shade was inspired by the color of the walls at The Blue Room in the 18th & Vine district.

The Blue Room is a jazz club in the historic 18th & Vine jazz district. I was there earlier this summer and as soon as I saw the walls I knew I wanted to create a polish with a similar color combination. The walls are a blue-purple and the trim is a red-purple, and the overall effect is striking. My red-purple shimmer leans more pink than I intended, but I think I captured the general idea. 🙂

West Bottoms (fluorescent yellowish green with gold to green shimmer; glow in the dark and UV-reactive)

This polish is pretty different from what I usually do, but I wanted to have one polish in this collection be a “Halloween” polish… and this is the perfect polish for that since this shade is inspired by The Beast Haunted House in the West Bottoms area. 🙂

The West Bottoms is known for its haunted houses that open for business every fall. I’ve been going since I was a teenager and honestly, they creep me out almost as much now as they did then! They’re the perfect combination of creepy and cheesy. 🙂

This polish is both glow-in-the-dark and blacklight/UV reactive. Naturally the glow is at its strongest when it’s worn alone, but it’s still pretty darn strong when layered! When layered one coat over black, the effect under blacklight is very strong (though you have to be careful to make the layer very even during application if you’re only going to do one layer; otherwise the blacklight effect can look patchy), and the glow-in-the-dark effect was strong enough to creep my husband out the first night I wore it to bed. 😉 As far as longevity goes, I charged my one-coat-over-black mani in the evening before bed (around 15 seconds with a flashlight) and I could still see a glow when I woke up the next morning.

I have daylight pictures to share of this polish so you can see a bit of its layering potential. (I’ll leave the glow-in-the-dark/blacklight pictures to the bloggers, because my attempts to capture it in the dark were horrendous!) The first two swatch pictures show one coat West Bottoms over black, and the second two swatch pictures show two coats over black.

This collection will be available on Llarowe starting tomorrow at 1:00 pm CST, and mini bottles will be available on my blog starting this Friday. Please see sidebar for details on how to place an order, and please let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog!

I almost can’t believe it, but Contrary Polish has been in business for one year today! To celebrate this anniversary, I’m holding a full-bottle sale now through Friday evening (if supplies last), and I have a new shade to offer as well. 🙂

I spent a LONG time working on anniversary polishes, but it was worth it because I’m so happy with the result!

Since the first anniversary is traditionally the paper anniversary, I used that as my jumping off point. I initially tried and rejected two other ideas: Recycled Paper (I could see it in my head but couldn’t find the right supplies to make it happen) and Paper Lantern (very pretty but too ordinary). I ended up being inspired by some amazing wrapping paper, and Gift Wrap was born. 🙂

This polish dries with a satin finish before top coat. It has a bit of a jelly consistency but with good coverage. These swatches show two coats Gift Wrap (one thinner coat and one thicker coat) and one coat Seche Vite.

Please disregard the shade name label in these pictures; there was a last-minute name change.

Please see sidebar for details on how to place an order, and please let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog!

I almost can’t believe it, but Contrary Polish has been in business for one year today! To celebrate this anniversary, I’m holding a full-bottle sale now through Friday evening (if supplies last), and I have a new shade to offer as well. 🙂

I spent a LONG time working on anniversary polishes, but it was worth it because I’m so happy with the result!

Since the first anniversary is traditionally the paper anniversary, I used that as my jumping off point. I initially tried and rejected two other ideas: Recycled Paper (I could see it in my head but couldn’t find the right supplies to make it happen) and Paper Lantern (very pretty but too ordinary). I ended up being inspired by some amazing wrapping paper, and Gift Wrap was born. 🙂

This polish dries with a satin finish before top coat. It has a bit of a jelly consistency but with good coverage. These swatches show two coats Gift Wrap (one thinner coat and one thicker coat) and one coat Seche Vite.

Please disregard the shade name label in these pictures; there was a last-minute name change.

Please see sidebar for details on how to place an order, and please let me know if you have any questions or comments.

This giveaway will only be up for two days, so sign up now for a chance to win a full-size bottle of all three new shades!

I have more swatches of my new trio to share with you today!This new collection is called Ain’t That a Beach, and the shades names are Surf, Sand, and Sky. The collection will launch on Llarowe today at 2 pm and 8 pm (CST), and next Friday they will be on the list of shades available for mini bottle orders via this blog.

The microglitter didn’t show up well in these pictures but it’s apparent in real life. The effect I was going for was blue base = deeper water, green shimmer = shallow water, blue/green microglitter = wave peaks. 🙂These swatches show two coats Surf and one coat Seche Vite.

I anticipated questions about how Surf compares to Aruba, so I swatched them side by side. (I also included Bright Night for comparison, though you can see that it is much darker than the other two.) Aruba is greener and dustier, and Surf is brighter/more vibrant.Surf is on index and ring fingers, Aruba is on middle finger, and Bright Night is on pinky.

Sand (dirty tan with gold shimmer and brown microglitter)

The brown microglitter adds some depth to the background and the metallic gold shimmer overlays it all with sparkly goodness. The shimmer is super strong; you can see it in all light but it especially goes crazy in the sun. (Unfortunately my camera couldn’t catch the actual level of bling.) These swatches show two coats Sand and one coat Seche Vite.

I also anticipated questions as to how this compares with Hayride. Hayride’s base is more of a camel color and its shimmer has more of a copper sheen. Hayride also has varied sizes of brown microglitter, while Sand only has the smallest size available.Sand is on index and ring and Hayride is on middle and pinky.

Sky (sky blue with gold shimmer and blue microglitter)

You might be able to tell that I was going for a clear sunny sky with this one. 🙂The blue microglitter is very close to the base color, so rather than contrasting with it like usual, it only adds a bit of depth to the base. Like in Sand, the gold shimmer is very apparent in this polish… and also like in Sand, my camera had trouble capturing the actual shimmer. So please imagine it more sparkly than this!These swatches show two coats Sky and one coat Seche Vite.

Please see sidebar for details on how to place an order, and please let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog!

I have more swatches of my new trio to share with you today!This new collection is called Ain’t That a Beach, and the shades names are Surf, Sand, and Sky. The collection will launch on Llarowe today at 2 pm and 8 pm (CST), and next Friday they will be on the list of shades available for mini bottle orders via this blog.

The microglitter didn’t show up well in these pictures but it’s apparent in real life. The effect I was going for was blue base = deeper water, green shimmer = shallow water, blue/green microglitter = wave peaks. 🙂These swatches show two coats Surf and one coat Seche Vite.

I anticipated questions about how Surf compares to Aruba, so I swatched them side by side. (I also included Bright Night for comparison, though you can see that it is much darker than the other two.) Aruba is greener and dustier, and Surf is brighter/more vibrant.Surf is on index and ring fingers, Aruba is on middle finger, and Bright Night is on pinky.

Sand (dirty tan with gold shimmer and brown microglitter)

The brown microglitter adds some depth to the background and the metallic gold shimmer overlays it all with sparkly goodness. The shimmer is super strong; you can see it in all light but it especially goes crazy in the sun. (Unfortunately my camera couldn’t catch the actual level of bling.) These swatches show two coats Sand and one coat Seche Vite.

I also anticipated questions as to how this compares with Hayride. Hayride’s base is more of a camel color and its shimmer has more of a copper sheen. Hayride also has varied sizes of brown microglitter, while Sand only has the smallest size available.Sand is on index and ring and Hayride is on middle and pinky.

Sky (sky blue with gold shimmer and blue microglitter)

You might be able to tell that I was going for a clear sunny sky with this one. 🙂The blue microglitter is very close to the base color, so rather than contrasting with it like usual, it only adds a bit of depth to the base. Like in Sand, the gold shimmer is very apparent in this polish… and also like in Sand, my camera had trouble capturing the actual shimmer. So please imagine it more sparkly than this!These swatches show two coats Sky and one coat Seche Vite.

Please see sidebar for details on how to place an order, and please let me know if you have any questions or comments.